27th Mar 2020 08:56
(Alliance News) - Balfour Beatty PLC on Friday said it had a positive start to the year but will postpone the payment of its dividend.
The stock was 4.1% lower in London in morning trade at 215.60 pence a share.
The construction company said it intends to postpone its annual general meeting, which was scheduled for May 14, amid limitations on gatherings of people.
Balfour Beatty noted that the proposed final dividend of 4.3 pence a share still requires shareholder approval and, thus, the payment of such dividend will be postponed accordingly.
In addition, the company said, as part of the leadership's response, during this challenging period, Chair, Executive Directors, Non-Executive Directors and Executive Committee have committed to take a 20% reduction to their salaries.
Turning to operations, Balfour Beatty said it had a positive start to 2020. However, the unprecedented events related to Covid-19 have caused significant disruption to the global economy.
The company said, at this stage, it is unable to forecast either the duration of this disruption or its impact on the company's financial results for 2020.
Looking forward, Balfour Beatty said it continues to benefit from the strong financial position which it has built up over the last five years. As of Wednesday, the company said it had GBP395 million of net cash and GBP375 million of undrawn facilities.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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